National Republican., 1887-09-08
The Sandwich Islands.

The administration should keep watch
full eye upon the situation in the Sandwich
Islands. The conditions there are not
rcassuring. The latest dispatches state that
q military oligarchy is now controlling the
Islands, and that at the head of this des.
rotlsm, which suppresses newspapers and
news, is Col. Ashford, an English resident
Of Honolulu, whose brother, another Eng
lishman, of course, is attorney general.
The four principal officials of the fla
waiian Islands are Green, prime mlulster,
and In charge Of finances; Brown, secretary
Of foreign affairs; Ashford, attorney gen
eral; and Thurston, secretary Of the interior.
Green is an Orangeman from Belfast,
Brown and Ashford are Engllshmen, and
Thurston Is the son OF an American father
and a native woman.
These three Englishmen and one halfbreed
controlled the affairs OF the so-called revo-
| luton. Col. Ashford, the brother of the
attorney general, commanded the military
| forces then and commands them now. So
we find four Englishmen at the head OF and
controlling the affairs OF the islands.
But this is not all. Queen Kapioani-
she negotiated loan Of g, 900 with the
| London banking house OF skinner, Mathie-
| son Il Hoffnung. This man HofTnung has
| been the Hawaiian charge d'aifaires In
| London for years, and is now in Australia
| OIL his way from Honolulu, where he has
| concluded an agreement with the English
| rulers OF the islands, the nature of which
can easily be guessed at, from the fact that
he telegraphed asking that an English
fleet be dispatched to protect the English
| bondhoders, when In fact the first Install
ment of interest on the bonds was retained
out of the money loaned, and the second
has not yet fallen due.
England never hestates to commit any
crime against the law OF nations or treaty
| obligations when the result will benefit
! English commerce, and its most frequent
excuse for fragrant violations Of law and
treaties is the necessity Of protecting the
| property and dues OF Engishmen.
| The Sandwich Islands are more valuable
to England now than any other body Of
land of equal size on the globe. In posses
sion of those islands, fortified as England
could and would fortify them, England
would control both routes of transfer be-
tween Asia, and Europe, and America, be-
sides dominating the Pacific ocean aud its
entire traffic.
Nearly two years ago the NATIONAL Re.
| PUBLICAN showed how valuable these
islands would be to Great Britain on the
completion of the Canadian Pacific, as way
stations for the Australian and Asian lines
Of steamers that would be established to
connect with that railway. These steam
ships are established, are being supported
by large subsidies, and Honolulu is theii
stopping place, Just as predicted by the
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN.
What follows? The American prime
minister, Gibson, is driven out Of the coun
try; the king, friendly to America, virtually
deposed; loan made in London so that
there would be an Indebtedness; four En-
glishmen usurp all power In the islands
and an English fleet is on the way to Hon
olulu.
All this England and Engllshmen wer,
practically invited to do when this Demo
cratic administration, acting through 1t
Postmaster General, refused to pay 800,
OCO appropriated by Congress to American
steamers on the Pacific ocean for carrying
the mail, aud thus aid them In maintaining
their supremacy on that ocean. What W
abandoned the English government ant
peoples have the sagaclty and statesman
ship to attempt 10 ABSORB. There ar
Democrats in this country who understau
the question, and have the patriotism t,
advocates declaration of war on the par
of this government rather than see Englan,
or any other European nation take posses
sion of the Sandwich Islands.
The years are not many when the polio
of this government will be declared, and
will read Cuba, Canada, the continent
and the Sandwich Islands under one dlg
1t will require statesmanship aud courag
to announce and execute such policy.
These facts should not escape the atten
ton Of the administration.